Our biological control program at the Experimental Farm in Ottawa has been a great success. The tiny wasp Tetrastichus setifer (shown below) has become established in our experimental garden and is quite abundant. This past week, I saw nearly as many wasps as beetle larvae on our lilies.

Additional wasps in parasitized lily beetle cocoons from last year have been removed from cold storage. If their survival was good, then we expect to have a surplus of wasps. We would like to find additional release sites for these wasps. We will give priority to sites that meet the following criteria:

large number (50+) lily plants

in neighbourhoods where other gardeners grow lilies

not exposed to pesticides

gardener must agree to allow lily beetles to feed and develop so that they may become parasitized

gardener must agree to follow-up collection of larvae to assess success of release

The following metropolitan areas will be given priority (if your city is not on the list, we probably already have a contact there):

Edmonton

Winnipeg

Toronto

Halifax

If you meet the criteria and would like your garden to become a release site, please email me: Naomi_Cappuccino at carleton.ca.